Rhubarb Three Ways

Wotchers!

I love rhubarb – but it doesn’t seem to get much press after the glorious, coral-coloured shoots that are such a joy to spot in the shops in spring.

As the year turns to summer, rhubarb remains available, but it is larger, greener and full of flavour, but not as photogenic as it ages (who is!?). Spotting some on sale, I grabbed a bundle or two and riffled through my books and bookmarks to find something to use it in.

Let me tell you, a lot of rhubarb has been enjoyed in this household in recent times, and that is mainly due to the fact that I was having difficulty deciding which recipe to go with. So I’m solving that particular problem by including them all in this post.

First up, is a delightful, fresh rhubarb cake. Well actually, the first recipe I tried (from an old spiral-bound collection of recipes) wasn’t that great. So I went looking for other recipes, hoping for  some little tweak that I could use to bring it up to scratch. And I found it here. Beautiful pictures, and a recipe that required no notes. That said, I did change two minor things: I made the cake in my current favourite square, heavy-duty, baking tin ( available from Sainsbury’s [not a sponsor] for a bargain £8), and secondly, I upped the quantity of rhubarb to 400g, since that seems to be the standard size of pack here in the UK. A key aspect to remember from this recipe is to reserve a quarter of the rhubarb to sprinkle over the surface of the cake just before baking, so that it remains nestled in the cake mixture on top. I used the end pieces of each rhubarb stick for this, and so have both the greenest and the reddest pieces, making a very eye-catching contrast.

Next up was rhubarb kuchen. Although technically the German word for cake, kuchen pops up in many different countries and in a variety of forms. The remaining recipes here are variations of rhubarb and custard kuchen, a classic combination, all of which are delicious and which might appeal to a range of tastes in their differences. I’ve adapted the filling to greatly reduce the 200g of sugar originally called for, as it overwhelmed the flavour of the rhubarb so much, it could barely be tasted.

Many of the recipes I read mentioned using “your favourite kuchen crust” and I found that the varieties tended to fall into two distinct styles: those made with a yeasted dough and those made with a leavened pastry. Both sounded really nice, and I went back and forth between them for quite a while before deciding to make both and compare them directly.

Firstly, I tried with a yeasted dough, specifically the Drowned Doughnuts dough: it’s enriched with eggs, milk and sugar and pillowy-soft when baked. Be sure to have the dough come well up the sides of the tin and to prick the bottom of the pan with a fork to avoid it rising up too much and sending the custard mixture spilling over the edges.

Finally, there was the leavened pastry crust. For this recipe I made it both with gluten and without. In the photos above, the top picture is made with regular plain flour, and was sliced after chilling overnight in the fridge, which made of an impressively clean slice. The bottom picture shows a kuchen made with gluten-free flour (in this instance Schar brand, although for a previous version I used Dove’s Farm brand), and was sliced/photographed still warm from the oven. The crust made using regular plain flour rose to an almost scone-like texture, a great contrast between the creamy custard filling and the tart rhubarb pieces. The gluten-free flour baked to a wonderfully crumbly texture – a cross between shortbread and melting moment biscuits – different, but very much enjoyable. Loved it.

I’ve refrained from dusting these bakes with icing sugar, as I wanted you to be able to see the results unadorned, but feel free to add that little flourish if you like.

SO! After seven or eight versions of one sort or another, I can heartily recommend all forms of these recipes, although I must also admit, we’re a bit rhubarb’d out in this house, for now. 

Rhubarb Cake

400 g rhubarb
170g butter
170g caster sugar
3 large eggs
280g plain flour
150g plain yogurt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

caster sugar for sprinkling

• Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C Fan.
• Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment.
• Cut the rhubarb into 1cm slices. Set aside 100g of the greenest/reddest pieces for the top of the cake.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, one by one, until fully combined, then add the yogurt and vanilla.
• Sift the flour with the baking powder and stir in.
• Stir through the 300g of sliced rhubarb, and turn the mixture out into the prepared baking tin.
• Sprinkle the remaining rhubarb over the top.
• Bake for 45 minutes, turning the tin around after 25 minutes, to ensure even browning.
• Remove from the oven when risen and golden, and slightly shrunken from the sides of the tin.
• Sprinkle with caster sugar and allow to cool in the tin.

Rhubarb Kuchen

Whichever crust you choose, the rest of the recipe is the same, so choose your crust, line your tin and then proceed with the filling.

For a dough crust, follow the instructions for Drowned Doughnuts, then:

• Line a 20cm square tin with parchment paper.
• Once risen for the first time, press the dough to deflate, the roll out like pastry and line the prepared tin. Ensure the dough comes high enough up the edges of the tin to keep the filling enclosed.
• Prick the dough in the bottom of the tin with a fork.

For a leavened pastry crust:

175g plain flour or gluten-free flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2tbs caster sugar
125g cold butter
1 large egg, beaten

• Line a 20cm square tin with parchment paper.
• Put the dry ingredients into a food processor with the blade fitted, and blitz briefly until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• With the motor running, add A LITTLE of the beaten egg – one or two tablespoonfuls only – to dampen the mixture to form breadcrumb-like clumps, but not enough to bring it together.
• Tip out the mixture into the prepared tin and press the pastry into the base of the tin and up the sides.

For the custard filling

400g rhubarb
75g icing sugar
2 tbs custard powder
3 large eggs – NB If you’re using the leavened crust, use the remains of the beaten egg and just 2 large eggs
125ml milk
¼ tsp salt

• Heat the oven to 170°C, 150°C Fan.
• Cut the rhubarb into 1cm slices and spread evenly into your crust.
• Put the sugar, custard powder, eggs, milk and salt into a jug and whisk together until smooth. A stick blender is useful here.
• Pour the custard mixture over the rhubarb in the crust.
• Bake for 45 minutes, turning the tin around after 25 minutes, to ensure even browning.
• Remove from the oven when the crust is browned and the filling set. A slight movement in the very centre is fine, as it will continue cooking for a while once removed.
• Allow to cool in the tin.